Everything We Know About Alien: Covenant

At a recent footage presentation held on the 20th Century Fox lot, Katherine Waterson, the leading lady in Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott’s upcoming prequel/sequel to the Alien/Prometheus franchise, spilled the beans on new details about the flick. Scott gave a short message beforehand, enforcing his love for this franchise,“My passion for the Alien series has never diminished.” Minor spoilers lie ahead, so read at your own risk.

Without further ado, here’s the awesomness on display in the trailer and screened footage from Alien Covenant.

– MU-TH-UR 6000, the artificial intelligence computer mainframe aboard the USCSS Nostromo, appears to be back. The first clip shown followed the crew of the colony ship, the Covenant (yes, they named the movie after the ship) traveling to a new world that is said to support human colonization. You’re able to hear the computer assist with the launch sequence – HUGE nostalgia moment. It looks like the movie will be full of them.

– The medical bay sequence is BRUTAL – Scott pulls no punches and goes full-on madman with some of the goriest special effects in modern horror history. In the second clip shown, Carmen Ejogo’s character takes a sick crew member to the sick bay – and that’s when all hell breaks loose. A Neomorph bursts out of the male crew members back, causing Amy Seimetz’s pilot character to lock them in the sick bay to quarantine both of them. You can probably imagine what happens from there. The whole sequence is definitely reminiscent of the infamous chestburster scene from the first Alien. Beware of the backburster.

– Katherine Waterson’s haircut in the film brings on another nostalgic moment; she looks just like Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) from the original quadrilogy. Addressing rumors of being the new Ripley, Waterson didn’t shy away, “I actually think it’s probably pretty accurate. There’s a broad at the center of the film fighting aliens, a tall one again. I see that parallel, for sure. But in terms of the narrative I don’t know that there’s an obvious link there.” It wasn’t even Scott’s idea for her hair to be this way, it was actually thanks to her Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them costar Ezra Miller, “I had a bob for Fantastic Beasts when I got this job. I was already drawn to Ezra Miller’s haircut in that film. It’s sort of miniature bowl cut. He knew it was right for his part but he didn’t like having it look like that on the weekends. I thought he looked like Ian Curtis. I took a bunch of pictures and convinced Ridley to let me do it for the film, and he said yes.”

– These are ‘Neomorphs’, not ‘Xenomorphs’. They look, sound and move the same as the Xenomorphs, except they prefer exiting through backs instead of chests. Jokes aside, they’re terrifying to watch unfold on the screen. Waterson explained, “We saw everything ahead of shooting. We did our first read through in a room that was surrounded by disturbing images of the aliens and what they can do to a person. Then we got to work with a lot of puppets which was so useful, you don’t have to use your imagination.”